Renaissance Icon

Duration

3:53

Genres

Spoken Word/Perf. Poetry

Description

Lyrics

Candle light dances around the room; I feel like I'm weightless... floating within the light. My vision bobs up and down in time with the flickering of the flames. Everything comes into focus. An elderly man with long white hair works tirelessly at a workbench across the room. He's wearing a red cloth robe and a simple hat... he looks like some sort of wizard. The workbench stretches the length of the room and is covered in various paintings, sketches, books, maps, and mechanical gadgets. Clearly a thinking man's workshop. Next to the man is a four foot tall lion... and it's moving toward me. As it nears closer I can see it is mechanical... some sort of elaborate creation. The lion stops just a few feet away. It's tail twirls around as the head tilts upward. I brace for the deafening roar... but nothing comes. The old man turns away from his workbench and begins to approach. Behind the tired, weathered face that walks toward me is a unique man far ahead of his time. He stands next to the lion, petting it's mane. Suddenly a door on the side of the lion opens and a bouquet of brilliant flowers appear. Da Vinci: Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity. He walks back toward his workbench; sophisticated, even at this age. Da Vinci: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Is he reading my mind? What kind of deception is this? Da Vinci: The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. My mind becomes infatuated with what is happening. A surreal experience of apparent telekinesis that I do not understand. The man continues to fidget with something on his workbench. Da Vinci: Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. Learning never exhausts the mind. The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. His words seem to meld with my subconscious; a sense of widening perception and extreme appreciation fills my entire body. Overflowing comprehension... I begin to question my way of thinking... my way of living... every decision I've ever made. Do I fully understand? Have I obtained the noblest of pleasures? Da Vinci: Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it. A sense of weightlessness once again envelopes me. The room begins to blur... fading away.